


Short Distance

by oldwearysoul



Category: Voltron - Fandom, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Awkwardness, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-09
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-12-13 08:34:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11756037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oldwearysoul/pseuds/oldwearysoul
Summary: Lance is learning the hard way that sometimes being a short distance away from the one you've fallen in love with can be worse than being galaxies apart.





	1. Chapter 1

Lance had always been good at putting up a front when it came down to it, especially when he was on the verge of falling apart. Shiro was back and everyone was happy, Hunk had even gone out of the way to make a cake with the food goo and whatever he had found in the kitchen the day after they'd found Shiro in that fighter jet. Lance was happy to have Shiro back, but after the initial celebration he was hit with the reality of his relationship with Keith. While Shiro had been MIA Lance had grown closer to Keith- closer than he'd thought possible when he first officially met the broody, angry punk. Keith had started to open up to him about the time he'd spent in the desert looking for Shiro, in return Lance told him about his family and opened up about how much he missed Earth and the rain. They truly bonded in the short time Keith didn't have Shiro to turn to, but now that he was back what would become of what they started to build? He’d already started to notice Keith slipping away just in the way he acted when Lance would try to talk to him, he kept conversations short and any other interaction was short and limited unless they were training.

 

Keith had almost always been by Shiro’s side whenever he saw them, he never really tried to . They were practically inseparable and when Lance did try to talk to Keith he’d always become an idiot and say the first insult that came to his mind because he’d get nervous and insecure and his mouth would work faster than his self control. But then Shiro was gone and it was like Keith had become a different person. He was colder and kept everyone at a distance, but Lance could see the suffering written on his face every time they brought up Shiro. At first Lance would just talk to fill the silence when he was in the same room as Keith, and after a while Keith started to talk back and have conversations with him. It was nice...more than nice- if Lance would admit it to himself. He liked being able to make jokes with Keith -even if he had to explain all of them- and talking to Keith when he would find him in the observation room looking out at the distant stars and planets. 

 

Some of Lance’s fondest memories since discovering Blue and becoming a paladin of Voltron were with Keith in that room. It was where they had more of the bonding moments Keith claimed they had when he cradled Lance in his arms (Lance still doesn’t remember that).  He slowly started spending so much time there that Hunk and Pidge would go there first when looking for the sharpshooter and find him with Keith trying to make him laugh or trying to get him to try a face mask recipe with him. Hunk had noticed of the sudden change in Lance’s attitude towards Keith and decided to tease him about it while Lance was watching Hunk cook.

“Hey loverboy, how’s your man?” ,Hunk said as he mixed some ingredients from the last planet they had been to into a bowl.

 

Lance sat up straight as his blood rushed to his face, “What are you even talking about, Keith isn’t my man. Just because we do face masks together doesn’t mean he’s my boyfriend.” His voice cracked when he glanced at Hunk and saw the look he was giving him, it was a look that said ‘ _ You are so full of crap a toilet would claim you were trying to steal his job’ _ .

 

“But you didn’t deny that you wanted him to be your boyfriend.” ,Hunk teased while moving his mixing bowl farther away from Lance as the Cuban attempted to get a finger-full of the mystery goo.

 

“So what if I’m really into Keith and want him to cradle me in his arms again? He barely tolerates me and I always say things before I think and it leads to him tolerating me even less.” ,Lance looked down to his hands in his lap, his face gloomy, “Besides, I don’t think I’m his type. Even if I was I’m obnoxious and loud, no one likes obnoxious and loud people.”

 

Hunk set aside his mixed bowl of weird foods and stared at Lance with a serious look on his face, “Lance McClain, you can be loud, and sure sometimes your humor doesn’t have the best timing, but we both know that’s not who you really are. You’re not “obnoxious” or “tolerable” you’re caring, reflective, you’re the kind of person who would push Coran out of harm’s way even when you barely knew him. You;re a good person and Keith would have to be really dumb to not enjoy all the attention you’ve been giving him.”

 

Lance smiled at his lap and turned to look at Hunk, “Thanks Hunk, that really means alot coming from you.”

 

“Anytime buddy, now go hang out with your emo not-boyfriend before I tell Pidge that you confessed to me.” ,Hunk gave Lance a smile so fake that a Barbie doll would be jealous of it before he hopped off the edge of the counter and made his way out of the kitchen.

 

“Okay okay, I’m going. No need to threaten me- sheesh.” ,Hunk let out a laugh as Lance wandered off, not paying attention to where he was until he found himself nearing the observatory. He could hear someone talking and stopped in front of the doorway, listening to the all too familiar voices in the room ahead of him. Lance slowly crept past the threshold and watched Shiro and Keith from the darkness. Keith and Shiro were looking out at the stars the same way Lance had done with Keith not too long ago. 

 

“You must’ve hid in your room while I was gone like the emo you are.” ,Shiro said, laughing as Keith lightly punched the taller man’s shoulder. 

 

“I did not hide you ass, I ended up talking to Lance a lot actually. He’s really not that bad once you get past the obnoxious loud asshole front.” ,Keith chuckled as Shiro gave him a look that Lance couldn’t really see from his spot near the entrance.

 

“Oh yeah? That sounds exactly like you, you try and act all broody and collected, but then once you decide to stop being so hard headed you’re even more broody and less collected than you lead people to believe.” ,Shiro laughed when Keith made an offended noise and leaned away from him.

 

“Shut up, I’m not that bad. Lance really tried to be there for me even when I was busy worrying about you and didn’t want to  be near anyone. He never stopped trying to give me someone to depend on the whole time you were gone.” ,Keith shared a smile with Shiro as he talked, “Did you know he makes all the face masks he uses from scratch? How cool is that?” 

 

Shiro glanced at Keith from the corner of his eye, “He seems like a good friend...a really good friend…” Shiro wiggled his eyebrows at Keith who gently shoved him away.

 

“No it’s not like that at all, Lance is just a good friend, my buddy, my pal, you know?” ,Keith and Shiro continued to talk after that, but Lance had zoned out. Keith only saw him as a friend and while it wasn’t too surprising to Lance it still hurt. He quietly retreated, leaving Keith and Shiro to stare at the galaxies in a room that Lance wouldn’t be able to be in that room again without thinking about what Keith had said. That night Lance didn’t leave his room and he didn’t come out to eat dinner with the rest of the team, he couldn’t look at Keith smiling at Shiro the way he had hoped he would smile for Lance. Instead he stayed in his room with the only light source being the soft blue stripe over his bed. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is awkward and Lance is equally awkward.

“No it’s not like that at all, Lance is just a good friend, my buddy, my pal, you know?” Keith rubbed at the back of his neck and sighed. Shiro gave him this knowing look that never ceased to annoy the hell out of him, he laid back on the ground looking up at the ceiling. “But I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that he was attractive…he’s just so frustrating! I try to be nice to him, he gets defensive and thinks I’m just mocking him, but when I fight back he blows up in my face! I don’t know what he wants from me- it’s like he hates me and I don’t know what I could’ve possibly done to deserve it. I want to hate him, but then he does things like explain the jokes and references he makes to me when I don’t get them or I’ll catch him smiling or laughing at something Hunk says and and my stomach feels like it’s going to erupt or something.”

At this point Shiro is laughing at Keith who had crossed his arms during his confession and was now glaring at the ceiling, “Have you tried taking a different approach? You know he just likes to bicker because he knows he’ll get a rise out of you right?.”  
Keith looked away from Shiro in an attempt to hide his pout, “It’s not my fault he acts like an idiot whenever I so much as breath in his general direction.”

Shiro sighed and ruffled his hair, “Maybe not, but if you stopped giving him the satisfaction of fighting all the time you might be able to actually talk to him like a normal person.” ,Shiro stood and stretched “Why don’t you try and talk to him about things he’s interested in? That’s how I got you to open up to me.”

“What am I supposed to talk to him about though? Do I just go up to him and ask him what his favorite color is?” ,Keith sits up as Shiro starts to walk away.

“Ask him about where his family is from or what his favorite season is, normal stuff Keith.” ,Shiro turns to look at Keith before he leaves. His eyes soften when they see the nervous boy sitting on the floor looking back at him. “You’ll be fine, Keith. It’s just Lance- he won’t laugh at you for trying to find common ground.” 

And with that Shiro walked away leaving a very torn Keith to his thoughts, “It’s just Lance, he says.” mocking Shiro’s voice and he turned back to the stars passing by, “I doubt it’ll be as easy as he makes it sound.”

 

Keith would say that he’s not nervous to talk to Lance one on one, but then he would be a huge liar. After wandering around he found Lance in Blue’s hangar, but hesitated to make his presence known just yet, he stood there watching Lance for a while before he was startled by a hand on his shoulder. He jumped and turned to an equally startled Hunk.

“Sorry, I thought you heard me come up behind you.” ,Hunk whispered as he removed his hand from Keith’s shoulder. “Anyways, what are you waiting for? Go talk to him already, he’s not gonna bite his head off.” the bulky guy gave Keith a reassuring nod before shoving out into the hangar and closing the door behind him loud enough to make Lance look up.

“H-hey.” ,Keith coughed into his fist to clear his throat before walking towards Lance. He could hear his heartbeat, but he shoved it out of his mind as he neared the other boy.

“Oh, hey Keith. What do you want?” ,Keith saw the challenge in Lance’s eyes to make a snarky remark back and as much as Keith wanted to give into their easy routine he held his tongue. 

“Nothing, I just wanted to come say hi I guess.” ,Lance gave him a look of confusion before going back to wiping off Blue’s paws.

“Ohkay then…” ,There was a tense silence while Keith tried to remember what Shiro had told him to ask. 

“What color is your favorite animal?” ,his voice became higher in pitch and he was mentally kicking himself.

Lance snorts and turns to look at Keith ready to make fun of him, but something in his eyes changed when he saw the flustered boy looking down at the ground and deciding against it as he turned back to Blue, “Try again, I’ll pretend I didn’t hear what you just said.”

Keith visibly relaxed and looked at Lance with what he hoped was appreciation, “I meant to ask what your favorite animal is before asking what your favorite color was….I like hippos and red isn’t so bad.” there was another silence as Lance finished wiping off Blue’s paws.

“Hippos? Huh...very un-Keith like. I thought you’d like leopards or something as equally dangerous.” The tan boy grabbed his cleaning gear off the floor and started making his way out of the hangar, keeping his pace slow until Keith was walking next to him. It wasn’t an awkward silence, it was almost comfortable though neither Keith or Lance would’ve admitted it.

“Thanks for coming to hang out with me, I guess.” Lance rubbed the back of his neck and looked away from Keith. 

“Yeah, no problem.” There was that tense silence again, Keith glanced at Lance from the corner of his eye only to catch Lance staring at him.

Lance quickly turned away from him, but he could still see the red on the tips of his ears, “Anyways I’m gonna go find Hunk, later!” ,he started off in the opposite direction before stopping and turning his head letting Keith see the bright blush spread across his face, “My favorite animals are sharks and my favorite color is blue.” the tan boy turned back in the direction he was walking and darted around the corner.

“Sharks....cute…” Keith felt the starting of a smile on his face as he walked back to his room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look, I know this chapter is kinda ass and it's super short. I really tried my best, but the creativeness went away before I could finish this chapter. In my defense I really wanted to get this out today. The next chapter will be better though I swear.

**Author's Note:**

> I was bummed out so I took that bummed feeling and put it into this short fic. It got bad at the end because I stayed up overnight writing this and am still sleep deprived as I type, but I hope it's still enjoyable.


End file.
